11 Comments
User's avatar
sarahwa87's avatar

Hiii Edgar!

I found it so amazing, thanks for sharing it.

All the best.

Edgar Pocius's avatar

Glad you enjoyed reading it. This is one of those essays I wrote more for myself than for anyone else. I think Dostoevsky’s The Idiot is underrated compared to his more famous novels, but it has a lot of very authentic themes.:)

sarahwa87's avatar

Yeah I strongly agree

Well done 🙌

Soulhunting's avatar

Where and how do you find these stories? Amazing storytelling as usual Edgar!

Edgar Pocius's avatar

An old book at home caught my attention. I have no idea how it ended up in my private library. All I could see was the word Idiot on the cover, along with clear signs of age and the wear of being well read. I opened it, remembered that it was a classic, and slipped it into my bag to read on the way.:)

Deer Sabah's avatar

I really enjoyed this, thanks for sharing. :)

Edgar Pocius's avatar

Glad you enjoyed reading. It’s nice to connect with good readers :)

Edgar Pocius's avatar

It’s a bit different from my usual essays, no mythology or fairy tales this time. I’m planning at least two more on Dostoevsky. In one, I want to analyze Prince Myshkin as a critique of Western Christianity and its “nice guy” image of Christ. In another, I want to connect Raskolnikov to gender dynamics and touch on questions Dostoevsky doesn’t really address.:)

Mina's avatar

Interesting piece, got me thinking about what actually constitutes a privilege. Looking forward to those others! And if I may challenge your disclaimer, isn’t canonical literature full of archetypal material just as myths and fairy tales are? This is why is offers itself for analysis :)

Edgar Pocius's avatar

Myshkin is a difficult case. Traditional interpretations often present him as too good, too kind, and too naive for the real world. But while reading, I had the feeling that he is almost a parody of a “good man” or a saint, and that his weakness is not really a virtue.

And yes, myths are probably just the classical literature of the ancient world 🙂

Mina's avatar

That last line would make a perfect quote ;)